And I'm going to see if I can.

Okay.

Awesome.

Hello, everybody.

I am Jacqueline Strominger.

I am the host of the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast.

And I'm so excited for our guest today.

We have Ann Huntington Sharma, and she is the president of the Hunting Huntington Learning Center.

And the name itself just brings warms to my heart because I think of Boston, but that's a whole other scenario.

But I am so excited to have you on the show and to talk to you about education, leadership, the whole nine yards.

Just to give you guys a little bit of background.

Ann and I were talking beforehand.

So she is originally from New Jersey.

She is now on the west coast coast and more towards the west in South Dakota.

That's more of the middle company, more middle of the country.

And she is the president.

And this is a family started as a family business, and you said in 1977.

So this is fantastic.

And you have over 200 corporate employees, and that's not even to mention the franchise folks that you have.

So welcome to the podcast.

I'm so glad to have you here.

Thank you, Jacqueline.

I'm really excited for this conversation.

Yes, I am.

And again, beforehand, we were talking about, obviously, leadership, education, and a whole bunch of other things as well.

But talk to me a little bit about your journey into your leadership position and how you got to where you are.

Great question.

Huntington Learning center, as you shared, is a family family business started by Eileen and Ray Huntington, who are my parents in 1977.

In terms of Huntington Learning center, it has always been part of who I.

I bleed green, though.

That said, if you're a new franchisee, you too bleed green because you're part of Huntington from the national level.

And each of our locations are independently owned and operated, so we can create leaders within each center.

So back in 1977, nearly 50 years ago, Ray and Eileen started Huntington Learning Center.

And I like to say I'm center number 17, because when they weren't opening locations, they had children.

I have a brother who's not involved with Huntington Learning Center.

I decided to become part of the family business.

But my journey to where I am to running Huntington Learning center was not a given.

Just because my maiden name is Huntington does not mean that gives me a right to be the president of Huntington Learning Center.

So before joining Huntington, I had a career in a totally different industry.

For a decade, I had a career in the art industry, where I worked at an auction house.

I started my own art curatorial company.

And of course, within family businesses, there are Always conversations about what's going on.

So even as a child, I knew who all of the folks were.

I was actually a student at Huntington.

And then when I had my career within art, I was very much involved behind the scenes in terms of what is happening at Huntington.

And my parents and I had a very frank conversation in terms of what.

What is the future.

Are you interested in Huntington?

It is a family business.

Are you interested in getting involved?

At that point, my brother was involved with the family business.

So I.

I jumped on board as a consultant when we were going through a rebranding initiative.

But anything I do, I dive deep.

So from there, I went through our training program.

I started as a director.

I started getting out into the field, visiting a franchi, figuring out what the pulse of the system was, learning, seeing new opportunities, building out new departments, and taking a lot of the skills that I had learned over that decade plus.

And of course, through my schooling, I applied that to Huntington.

And I've been with Huntington now officially for over 10 years.

And I became Huntington Learning Center's president in 2019.

And even before I was president, my mantra to the system was and still is, to protect and grow the company.

I'm the one of the custodians of it, and that's my job.

Of course, when I became president, we were getting ready for 2020.

And at our convention, I did say that mantra.

I said, it's protection and growth.

And 2020 is clear.

We all put on 3D glasses.

We all know it happened in 2020.

And that's when I really revved up the whole protection aspect of the brand.

And now that we're through the COVID times, now we're in that growth mode.

So my journey was not set in stone.

It was through different conversations.

And even when I became part of Huntington, it was figuring out what's right for the company, what's right for our students, to ensure that our mission continues to give every student the best education possible and what's appropriate for our franchise community.

Because.

And we are.

We right now are national.

Hopefully we become international at some point, but we have to ensure that the future for Huntington is secure.

So my path brought me to where I am today because of my.

My leadership strengths, my background, and my drive to really make change, positive change.

That's purposeful, that's great.

It's such a great story.

There's a couple of things that just were coming to my brain as you were talking.

And it's almost like when you were.

When you first got there, you were Actually, like the Undercover Boss, you were, like, trying to figure that out and.

And seeing what was good, the.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

And so as you move up, one of the biggest things you often hear, particularly in family businesses, is, and you said you were not given this, you had to earn the respect and the trust of the people that were there.

So tell me, tell us a little bit about how you did that besides just going under and seeing me undercover.

Undercover, like being the undercover.

There you go.

There you go.

Though I look very similar to Eileen and all of our.

Before we went through the rebranding, our centers had an image of me as a child, and I do look very similar.

So I have to really change my appearance.

Nevertheless, when I started, I was a big bull in a china shop because I wanted to make change right away.

I was coming from the art industry, which culturally was very different than how Huntington was set up.

So it was a learning curve for me.

I made a lot of people uncomfortable at first because we had tenured folks who were happy and full of pep and liked their routine.

They liked knowing what they were going to do it and how they were going to do it and when they were going to do it.

They understood my parents.

They understood what made them tick.

They understood what the expectations were.

And then here I came in and I was like, nope, this isn't going to work.

It took me a few years to really understand politics, if you will.

I had to get something done.

And through.

Through time, I was able to really prove out a lot of my hypothesis in terms of people and processes.

But the key really was and is that my parents and I, and when my brother was part of it, he too, he decided to exit.

The company was to be aligned in terms of what are our goals as owners and how are we going to achieve them.

And I, of course, had to learn really quick that I can't really make friends per se at work because it's.

Everyone is trying to figure out an angle.

And thankfully, that bull in a china shop, I learned as long as we get to the outcome, it doesn't matter how we get there.

It doesn't have to be my idea.

I need to surround myself with smarter people who will achieve the goals that need to be achieved.

It was a learning curve, and we have some really great folks.

So I don't want it to sound like I was trying to remove everyone.

We have some folks who have been with us for over 30 years.

We have some folks who just celebrated a 25th anniversary.

Our 10 years old awesome.

In terms of the people who are on the team and the impact that they have been able to achieve over the years is really tremendous.

But it's a lot I had to figure out and navigate.

How do I make sure that we focus on our mission?

Because every decision is based off that mission.

To give every student the best education possible.

And how do I make sure that we're all marching in that direction and make sure that folks know I'm not my mom, I'm not my dad, I am who I am.

And we have to work together in the way that we have to work together.

And that's not just my corporate colleagues, it's the franchisees have to understand that, okay, they bought into a system, they believe that system and they understand where their leadership is going for the future.

Great.

So you said a lot of amazing things.

So I have so many questions or that are just awesome.

I'm a firm believer and I feel like I talk about this all the time, that leadership starts and it's something that you said, it starts with mission.

Then you have to align with the goals.

And so I feel like you're preaching to the choir here.

But what I'm curious about is you have to sets of, well, actually three technically sets of clients, right?

You've got your franchise people, right?

There's team members there, then you've got the corporate team members and then you have your students, right?

And so those are all three separate areas, but all team members in different ways you want to put them.

So how do you communicate the mission to all three of those segments, into the segments and how do they differ?

So the mission, regardless of who I'm speaking with, is the same.

It's to give every student the best education possible.

And now it's trendy to have a mission, right?

A mission driven company.

We are, we've been doing it since 1977.

So hats off to my parents.

And I think it's a testament to why we are still number one.

We are the leading tutoring and test prep company in the nation.

When speaking with the different population sets.

So you said franchisees, you said the corporate colleagues, employees, and you said students.

It's really understanding what is the driver for those three buckets.

I'll call them.

So the franchisees, they come into a system because they want to be able to provide a meaningful impact in their community.

They want to give back and they also want to do well financially.

So we have a vision statement of world class student results and franchisee profitability.

So when speaking with that Bucket, if you will.

Those franchisees, it's really ensuring that they understand that they are part of a larger system, that there's a methodology, a proven methodology that works.

And when that individual follows that, they will do well financially.

So that mission is grounded in help the student who's in front of you, make sure it's the Huntington program and you will do well financially.

So that's to give every student the best education possible.

So you're not just, oh, here's another, I know this.

No, this is a very important moment for you.

You're speaking with a family who's at a critical time.

And we need to ensure that we have the highest ethical standards to ensure that student does achieve the best education possible.

So that's the first bucket.

From a colleague perspective, any meeting we have, it's always about the mission to give every student the best education possible.

So any decision that we are making has to be aligned with the mission.

And that's how we really focus on that mission.

And it could be someone who's been with the, the company for 33 years or who has been with the company for 30, 33 days or 20 days.

I, I just, I'm saying 33 because I have a colleague who just had her that anniversary and her birthday was yesterday too.

So that's why that number is in my head.

But everyone knows that we have a really robust training program.

And be it a franchisee, a colleague, a, a part time, a teacher, everyone understands that mission.

And the most important set is the student.

The student needs to come and know that they have come to the right place.

They may have gone to our competitor.

They may never have been able to really have the confidence to believe in themselves.

And with that mission to give the best education, they now know that, okay, I'm at the right place, it's going to be okay.

And the cool part about what we do is we can help this student who wants to get into the Ivy League university.

We can also help the student who's trying to get out of special education and into general ed because it's all customized and individualized to the student.

So regardless of where that student is on their academic journey, they are at the right place.

And that's the mission for them, to give every student the best education possible.

So that's how the mission is true, regardless of what segment, but it would be tailored depending on what the goals are for that segment.

That's fantastic.

And you said a couple of things and I just absolutely love that because front and center, putting that Mission forward.

And I truly believe that a lot of times companies write their mission statement and what they're and talk about what they want for their mission and then they write it and then they put it in a book and then they put it aside.

But when you make it front and centered and people can live and breathe it like what you've created, like kudos to you and to your parents for starting that because that does create that longevity and a culture and the people can jump in like they really can attach onto that and.

And for lack of better word, they're just part of this great journey with you guys and part of that.

So you said each meeting you talk about you have the mission and you're focusing on.

Is that something that, like, do you not to make the comparisons like the one thing that just came to my brain, but almost like the pledge of allegiance.

Do you start each meeting reading the mission or saying what the mission is?

Some meetings, yes.

So we have, for example, every week we have a different lunch and learn that's open to the whole community.

And every quarter we have a hello from Huntington where I'm speaking to the system and other colleagues are.

We always start that meeting with our mission, our vision, and our corporate goals.

We have three corporate goals there to improve profitability at the center, increase unit count and streamline business processes.

In those meetings, we have it front and center on the PowerPoint.

If it's a management meeting, usually we do have a slide on that.

I'll kick off the meeting and ground us in that.

We also not in every meeting, but I would say in the majority of our meetings, we start with a success story in terms of here's something that just happened at a certain center just to ground it, to remind us why we're doing what we're doing.

No, I love that.

Sharing that success story.

Okay, so speaking of successes, a lot of times leadership people talk about there's usually an aha moment that they had that there was a turning point where they went from maybe something not so great to something like, oh my God, here.

So what was your turning point?

Aha.

Trajectory moment when I realized I couldn't.

Be the bull in the china shop.

And I realized that I had to do it my way and I needed the trust from my parents.

So I was building out a new program and my.

I was reporting to my mom at the time and she wanted it a very particular way.

And I said, and I was trying it and I was doing okay, but I wasn't doing at the level I'm used to.

So I had to have a really frank conversation with her and I said, give me time, let me try it my way.

If it doesn't work, I'll go back to your way.

And with that trust, I was able to knock it out of the park.

I was able to show her look, there are a lot of different ways to get to the same solution.

And when working, especially with parents, I'm their daughter, right?

You can't change that.

Like my dad might say a comment that I'm just like, oh dad.

Like I don't call him dad at work, I call him Ray.

But the reality is I am their daughter.

So how do you then step out of that and then show that look, I'm also a colleague, I'm also a board member and I'm an owner.

So how do I ensure that we're all speaking the same way?

So that aha moment was really when I was able to show myself and Huntington at large who I am.

And again, I had all the backing before Huntington, all the success before that and all the projects I do outside of Huntington.

So I really had to show who Ann Huntington charmer was and why I'm here and why am I leading the charge and why do you have belief in me?

So it's that aha almost confidence of I got this, I've been trained for this and now let me go.

But don't be the ball in the china shop per se.

One thing I wanted to ask you about is you got 200 corporate employees we were talking before and about the longevity of the people that had been been there with you and mission I think is so important.

But how do you keep the that culture going?

And that because that's so important and I.

And so I'm curious because I think that's a true insight that you could share with our listeners because 200 employees with the longevity, you don't see that a lot today.

No.

And you know, so before COVID So we're coming up on our fifth year anniversary in these post Covid times.

Before COVID we were in person, very conservative, sometimes wore jeans on a Friday, suit, tie.

And then now we are remote.

Right.

So five years into remote.

I don't believe any company has figured out what the blueprint is for a remote culture to live and breathe it fully.

But from our perspective, it's making sure that it's a zoom meeting or a teams meeting, that we're present, that there are different check ins, that sometimes it's picking up the phone and having it via telephone versus doing a zoom call.

It's also to have opportunities to be in person, if that's possible.

So we have regional meetings.

We have specific meetings for the management team, some of which are remote and some are in person.

We last this.

This year in February, we started a whole new IT arm.

We have our regular IT department, which is going through a transformation with our legacy systems, and then leveraging everything that's happening in AI.

We started a whole new IT division in February.

So we met in person to make sure that, okay, no one's met.

How do we ensure that we're all align, that we all know why we're doing this, who we are?

So it's having those touch points, regardless if you're in a remote world or you're in person, that you're building out that sense of culture, that sense of understanding that my job is part of something larger.

And it's always going back to that.

In terms of marketing, it's grounding.

We just did a whole new marketing campaign that's rolling out, and it's stepping back and talking to the marketing folks and saying, okay, we have to ensure that this works, because this is.

If a franchisee uses this, they are putting their dollars out there, and they need to ensure students are seeing it.

So it's peeling back the onion to show that every single role works to something larger, to a greater good.

So, again, being remote has changed us over the past four, almost five years.

And like I said, I don't think anyone has figured it out fully, but we have a really strong foundation and a strong understanding in terms of what needs to happen to ensure that our franchisees are successful and our students are successful.

No, that's.

Actually.

That's.

And I love what you just said about each role serves actually something that's like the greater good.

There's.

Everybody has to grasp that from everybody, from the.

Whether it's the person who's cleaning the offices all the way up.

One of the things that we talked a little bit about before, before the start of the podcast, education in the school system, education that you guys have, and leadership.

What do you see?

Like, how do you see those two meeting together?

I think one of the beautiful things about Huntington, we've been doing this for nearly five decades.

We've seen a lot of change, positive and maybe not so positive within the whole education arena.

Where we see us being value add is really creating partnerships with schools, nonprofits, organizations who need to help their students.

And for the most part, everyone's a good person, right?

A teacher does not want the students to fail, per se.

You hope not.

But if a class size.

If a class size is 30 plus, that teacher needs to get through certain curricula.

So that's where we can help.

And we can build out different programs for the schools, and we have great success with that.

And we have a whole division that's a public private partnership division to really help bridge the education gap that we know is greater than ever coming out of COVID and families, parents specifically, or whoever the caregiver is, has more transparency in terms of what's actually happening because they were able to see what was happening or was not happening during COVID From our perspective, there have been a lot of changes over the decades.

And we can help.

We can help with the district, with the local charter school.

We can help with the nonprofit.

We're agnostic.

So our goal, and it sounds cheesy, but our goal is to help every student get the best education possible, however they come to us.

And I think probably something that's important to that is to get the best education possible for each of them because each student is so different.

And I think that's something.

What you shared is that it's a customized.

It's customized.

And I think that's so important for students because you might be a visual learner and I might be great at reading something, but.

Or I might be a great visual.

I need the combination.

I still laugh remembering the science teacher who drew the four red hemaglu in the shopping cart on the science board right when I was a kid.

There you go.

So everybody learns differently.

And so to be able to have that and to create that partnership is.

It's really fantastic.

And what are your challenges that you're facing?

We're about to go into a new year.

So from a leadership standpoint, what's one.

What's the big challenge that you're facing in the year or that you.

Time.

I need.

I need more time.

That's my biggest challenge.

And I don't know if anyone has figured that one out.

So time is the biggest challenge from a corporate standpoint, I think of it as more of an opportunity where how can we make such an impact?

So we are a legacy company.

We're going through transformation across the board.

We are continuously investing for the future, but it takes time to roll out certain programs.

So one of the biggest challenges is to ensure that all the projects and initiatives that we're working on are going to roll out successfully.

They're going to have adoption by the system that they're going to show the same efficacy, if not better, in terms of student outcomes.

The biggest challenge right now is going through that transformation and ensuring that we knock it out of the park.

And it's really.

It's a positive challenge.

And then on top of that, we need more Huntington Learning Centers.

We need to help more students.

We need folks to open a business for themselves, but not by themselves.

That's the mantra in franchising.

It's part of the American dream to be a business owner.

And we are such a great opportunity for that individual.

So another challenge is how do we help folks see that Huntington is an opportunity and help them open as quick and efficiently and cost efficiently as possible so they can make an impact in their community.

That's.

That is really great.

And I just love what you're doing.

I love the Huntington Learning Center.

I love the fact that you've had this longevity.

And I do think that one of the things that you had shared was to go international.

Definitely see that.

Because it learning is we always have to keep learning no matter what our age is.

And it's like one of those things that I feel like we can't tell our kids enough too.

Right.

We can't press upon that enough and tell the audience how they can connect with you, find you, get more of your wisdom, maybe grab a franchise.

There you go.

So if someone's interested in reaching out to me, I'm Ann Huntington Sharma.

I'm on link for Huntington Learning Center.

We can help your student if you're in K through 12 with tutoring and test prep.

You can call us at 1-800-COIN or you can visit our website, which is huntingtonhelps.com if you're interested in a franchise, it's huntingtonfranchise.com and we hope that we can help you in wherever you are in your journey.

Oh, that is fantastic.

So thank you so much.

And I have to just share with everybody.

This is the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast.

We do hear from great, amazing leaders like Ann every week.

If you have a leadership story journey that you would like to share or know somebody who is a great leader with a great story, Please go to leaptoyoursuccess.com podcast and apply to be a guest and make sure you hit subscribe today on this podcast so you can hear all about and from all of these amazing leaders every single week and be unstoppable.

So I'm Jacqueline Strominger and thank you for listening.